Thompson SMG

vandoo66 said:
Magazine was different as well. C1 had reg. follower whereas the Stering had those rollers. Not interchangeable as I recall
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Not only were the mags interchangeable, but the rollers were interchangeable with the Cdn flat platform in either the Brit or the Cdn mag. The last parts manuals for the C1 SMG shows the British roller platform as the only platform available and under the "99" country identifier code (UK).

I have one of the Sterling police carbines. It feeds fine with Sterling military, sterling commercial, C1 SMG or sten magazines.

When Sterling made the SMG, they designed it to accept the sten magazines as a selling feature to countries holding large quantities of stens. They designed the superior sterling magazine so as to not fit the sten though. They wanted to sell SMGs, and not just magazines.
 
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stencollector said:
Not only were the mags interchangeable, but the rollers were interchangeable with the Cdn flat platform in either the Brit or the Cdn mag. The last parts manuals for the C1 SMG shows the British roller platform as the only platform available and under the "99" country identifier code (UK).

I have one of the Sterling police carbines. It feeds fine with Sterling military, sterling commercial, C1 SMG or sten

When Sterling made the SMG, they designed it to accept the sten magazines as a selling feature to countries holding large quantities of stens. They designed the superior sterling magazine so as to not fit the sten though. They wanted to sell SMGs, and not just magazines.
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See... thata's where I wnt wrong
I still remember an innumerable quantity of information
it is just getting skewed as to the general order of things;)

Haven't played with a C1 or L2(never shot the L2) for ages.
The Sten I still own but cannot remember the last time I took it out of the safe...but at least Canadians are now safe:jerkit:
 
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Sharps '63 said:
Since the thread has already been hijacked .....

Semi-auto or full auto? As a Lineman/Cable Splicer in the Signal Corps, my issue weapon was the Sterling 9mm SMG. I can't imagine a less formidable weapon in combat. In SA mode, it would be less effective than the 9mm Browning I owned.
I could shoot the pistol more effectively out to 50 yds and it was one hell of a lot lighter and easier to pack while on the job. Of course, you had to be an Officer in order to be issued with one.
During my time in, I 'acquired' a case of 9mm ammo while stationed in Churchill. Weekend trips out on the tundra convinced me that I was far better armed with the pistol than the Sterling.
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I hated the SMG (Sterling). Old seesaw. Iffy sear.

Brit mags held more rounds I believe.
 
Deckard said:
I saw Canadian mags at various places for sale over the years. Were they released?
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I would suspect "released" but not through approved channels (that or someone F,d up at Crown Assets). The practice today is to smelt anything weapon related like guns, gun parts and mags, benign items like cleaning kits get sold off.
 
XRCD011 said:
L2 SMG (what everyone runs around calling the "Sterling/Patchette") magazines will work just fine in the Canadian C1 SMG and towards the end of the C1 SMGs time in CF service new L2 Mags where popping up for issue. In fact just to see if it could work or not I used a Sten mag one time, fed just fine also, never did get around to seeing if a MP40 mag worked or not in the C1 SMG but I suspect it would.
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I remember using Stens in exercises that had the barrels plugged to work with blanks. I don't recall that their mags were compatible with the C1 SMG. I do recall that we found it more comfortable to load them with the mag loader.
I've also owned a beautiful MP40 (before you needed 'Big Brothers' permission to do so) and it came with a Sten mag shoved into the mag well for display purposes. No way in hell it was compatible with the MP40.
 
can14 said:
L2a3 sterling 34 rounds great guns
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X3 here but all in for the C1 SMG, served Canada well for four decades. A great little sub gun that did all it was asked to do till it was retired. The only thing I did not like was the goofy little ten round mag that I had no use for.
 
Sharps '63 said:
I remember using Stens in exercises that had the barrels plugged to work with blanks. I don't recall that their mags were compatible with the C1 SMG. I do recall that we found it more comfortable to load them with the mag loader.
I've also owned a beautiful MP40 (before you needed 'Big Brothers' permission to do so) and it came with a Sten mag shoved into the mag well for display purposes. No way in hell it was compatible with the MP40.
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If you had a MP40 that took a Sten mag that Sten mag would have had to been moded in a big way as Stens take MP40 mags (ayf40s) but MP40 do NOT accept Sten mags. The front to back measurement of a Sten mag is far greater then a MP40 mag well will accept. Now working backwards if a MP40 mag goes into a Sten and a Sten mag goes into a C1/L2 then it stands to reason the MP40 mag "should" seat and function in a C1. Just a little gun trivia.
 
XRCD011 said:
If you had a MP40 that took a Sten mag that Sten mag would have had to been moded in a big way as Stens take MP40 mags (ayf40s) but MP40 do NOT accept Sten mags. The front to back measurement of a Sten mag is far greater then a MP40 mag well will accept. Now working backwards if a MP40 mag goes into a Sten and a Sten mag goes into a C1/L2 then it stands to reason the MP40 mag "should" seat and function in a C1. Just a little gun trivia.
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Go back and re-read my post .... I said that the Sten mag shoved into the mag well of the MP40 was NOT compatible with the MP40. It was for display only. The guy I got it from didn't have any MP40 mags.
That was easily corrected once I acquired the gun. Found a Wehrmacht pouch that carried four at a slant.
 
Sharps '63 said:
Since the thread has already been hijacked .....

Semi-auto or full auto? As a Lineman/Cable Splicer in the Signal Corps, my issue weapon was the Sterling 9mm SMG. I can't imagine a less formidable weapon in combat. In SA mode, it would be less effective than the 9mm Browning I owned.
I could shoot the pistol more effectively out to 50 yds and it was one hell of a lot lighter and easier to pack while on the job. Of course, you had to be an Officer in order to be issued with one.
During my time in, I 'acquired' a case of 9mm ammo while stationed in Churchill. Weekend trips out on the tundra convinced me that I was far better armed with the pistol than the Sterling.
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I bought my SMG from Canadian Aresnals. $99 Came with bayonet, 3 30round mags and the little 10 round. I found it very accurate on semi auto. I could hit a pop can at 25 yards.

On FA it only worked with short bursts. The PPSH can put a long burst on target. My others cannot.

BTW, CA sold the C1 for $139 and the C2 for $199.
 
I find that you can hit a 12" steel plate at 100 yds consistently with the sterling. I would consider that a very lucky shot with a hi-power. As to automatic fire, that is for room clearing or making the opposition lower their heads......automatic fire is not a sniping tactic.
 
The SMG was never intended to be a precision weapon. It was light and compact and was issued to AFV crews, drivers, gunners, and others who would be encumbered by a full size rifle. It even had a 10 rd mag in addition to the 30s. I found it accurate enough for it's intended purpose

. Some will remember the instinctive firing position in the Pam where you putt the butt on your belt buckle and shifted onto the target with short bursts. I was introduced to this one by a humungous instructor at the Armoured Corps School many yrs ago. He said the trick was not to move the weapon, but to keep it centered and shift your whole body by jumping in the air. It looked funny, but it worked. One thing that I didn't like about the SMG was doing drill with it.
 
stencollector said:
I find that you can hit a 12" steel plate at 100 yds consistently with the sterling. I would consider that a very lucky shot with a hi-power. As to automatic fire, that is for room clearing or making the opposition lower their heads......automatic fire is not a sniping tactic.
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I've won a BCRA Service Pistol event (still have the crest for my blue blazer) with an Inglis Hi-Power I culled out a herd before the match. This CoF was out to 50m on a huge bulls eye target. I had to hold at 11 o'clock on an outer ring in order to hit the centre, but the trigger and mag I selected made this possible. I found a couple of mags that were well polished in the area where the trigger shoe made contact. The first thing we did in IPSC was to remove the mag disconnect to eliminate this as a problem.

I never once said a word re: accuracy with the SMG. I never had a problem with it on the qualification CoF which as I recall started at 100m and advanced up to 7m where the instructions were to expend all remaining ammo in bursts. I recall shooting a possible or damn close to it on most occasions. From a sand bag rest at 100m, the figure 12(?) target was easy to hit.

Compared to the MP40 I owned, what am I saying? .... there was NO comparison on any level save for the calibre.

As for the ultimate purpose of ANY firearm in the hands of a soldier - it is to kill the enemy. Ammunition expended keeping their heads down does not accomplish this.

This discussion is getting further and further away from the Thompson .45 SMG.
 
Funny how we made it thru WW2 and Korea with the "Stench Gun" which was much cruder than the C1 SMG and was often a "Judas stick" on account of it's unreliability. Most killing gets done by arty, mortars and MGs anyway and that's why a lot of the riflemen in both the Commonwealth and German infantry sections became mules to haul ammo for their BRENs and MG34/42s.

Like most SMGs the Thompson fires from an open bolt to facilitate cooling. The inertia of the heavy breechblock going forward in the semi-auto mode can throw your sight picture off balance, but you can learn to compensate for this. This is one reason why short bursts were always considered the most effective way to use an SMG.

One of the biggest recipients of the Thompson SMG during WW2 were the Nationalist Chinese who spent a lot of their time with internal bickering and got their butts kicked by both the Japanese and the Chinese Communists on a regular basis. Once the Chicoms took control they appropriated all of the former nationalist arsenal incl the Thompson guns. The Thompson was used extensively against us by the Chicoms in Korea where it had a good reputation for reliability in sub-zero weather.
 
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